科技公司挑战传统银行 纷纷入局支付大战

 　　Big tech groups are now working to cut out banks as the middlemen, threatening to turn legacy¹ financial institutions into the dumb pipes that feed the back-end infrastructure² of firms such as Amazon, Google or Facebook.

　　如今，大型科技集团正努力把作为中间人的银行挤掉，威胁要把这种历史悠久的金融机构变成向亚马逊、谷歌或脸书等公司提供后台基础设施的“无声通道”。

　　"The days when a single channel for financial services was controlled by banks are coming to an end," said David Parker, head of banking³ at Accenture UK and Ireland.

　　埃森哲英国和爱尔兰地区银行业主管戴维·帕克表示：“银行控制唯一金融服务渠道的日子就要结束了。”

　　"Companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook and many others who have much more intimacy⁴ with their customers will be able to demand and create better services", said Parker.

　　帕克称：“谷歌、亚马逊、脸书及其他许多与客户拥有亲密得多的关系的公司，将有能力要求和打造更好的服务。”

　　"In the short term, this will be the equivalent of small fish nibbling⁵ away at parts of a bank's services, but in the longer-term, most banks are worried".

　　“从短期来看，这相当于小鱼在蚕食银行的部分服务，但从更长远的角度来看，大多数银行都很担忧。”

　　"It will become attractive for tech firms to pick off parts of the bank - Amazon lending to small merchants, Google putting a buy button in its adverts⁶, Facebook facilitating money transfers."

　　“对科技公司而言，取代银行的各个部分将变得有吸引力——亚马逊向小商家提供借贷，谷歌在广告上添加购买按钮，脸书使转账更为便利。”

　　Amazon's payment service is already advancing steadily⁷: today, it allows online vendors⁸ on its Marketplace site to take payments across the US and Europe, and also makes small loans to its US merchants through its B2B arm, Amazon Business. The division was recently launched in Germany, although it does not make loans in Europe yet.

　　亚马逊支付服务已经在稳步推进：现在，亚马逊旗下平台Marketplace上的在线商家可以在美国和欧洲范围内收款，亚马逊还通过旗下的企业对企业(B2B)平台Amazon Business向美国商家发放小额贷款。这个业务分支已经开始在德国运营，尽管还未在欧洲开展贷款业务。

　　In 2016, the e-commerce firm rolled out "Pay with Amazon" across France, Italy and Spain — a PayPal-like service that allows users to pay for non-Amazon purchases including government services, insurance and travel, using their Amazon login on thousands of third-party websites.

　　在2016年，这家电商公司在法国、意大利和西班牙推出了“Pay with Amazon”服务--这种类似PayPal的服务允许用户使用他们的亚马逊账户登录数以千计的第三方网站，为非亚马逊消费付款，包括政府服务、保险和旅游等。

　　In 2016, payment volume on this service nearly doubled and was used by 33 million customers, Amazon said.

　　亚马逊表示，2016年该服务的支付金额总数几乎增长一倍，使用该服务的用户达到3300万。

1 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

2 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

3 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

4 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

5 nibbling   

v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的现在分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬

参考例句：

• We sat drinking wine and nibbling olives. 我们坐在那儿，喝着葡萄酒嚼着橄榄。
• He was nibbling on the apple. 他在啃苹果。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 adverts   

advertisements 广告，做广告

参考例句：

• the adverts on television 电视广告
• The adverts are not very informative. 这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。

7 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

8 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓